Let's Play Cards
by Jpr123
Summary: Ash was just a normal citizen, he lives alone, has a pet pikachu, has a steady job, but unfortunately that makes his life extremely boring. Until one day he received a mysterious ace of diamonds in his mailbox that has 3 addresses and 3 different times written on it. Ash sees this as a joke and goes to where the card tells him to go, only to find out some unexpected dark secrets.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Notes:** Alright hey guys! So Jpr123 here and I'd just like to say welcome to another small little fanfiction I'm working on. Now this is a fic based on a strange idea I had, so please don't be too hard on it. This is just a fair warning this story is very dark! It is rated T for a reason read at your own expense. This isn't in the summary but this fic is a AU fic.

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"Sigh... just another fucking day in this damn fucking store," Ash quietly whispered to himself. There he stood in the connivence store that his mind was literally rotting in. There wasn't much to see other than just a few dumb teenagers trying way too hard to act cool.

Now Ash Ketchum wasn't special or anything. He was just a 21 year old young adult. He lived on his own along with his partner pikachu. He had his own house and he had a job that he grudgingly hated. Ash Ketchum was the definition of an average citizen.

Standing next to him was his coworker Brock Boulder. Now these two had originally met in college. The two of them were quite close friends. They could usually rely on one another for help. Brock was the only good thing in Ash's current life, but that didn't matter right now as a mysterious man walked through the front door.

"YOU PUT YOU'RE DAMN HANDS IN THE AIR!" The man yelled. He was wearing a thick leather jacket and a ski mask. Ash could only see his blood shot eyes through the eyes holes that were poked through the mask.

The man pushed a gun up to Ash's forehead. Ash could feel the cold steel press up against his skin. He let out a loud sigh and looked the man in the eyes.

"So what do you want? Money? Women? A blowjob? Anal? Sorry, but we only have money here for you to steal. But Brock over there might be willing to give you a blowjob," Ash calmly said.

"Oh, fuck you man! Yeah sorry but we only have money here," Brock said.

"You know what. I'd be willing to have a threesome, what you say big guy, up for one? Right I understand, you want an orgy, hold on I'll need to call up my mates," Ash casually said.

The man grabbed Ash by the collar of his shirt. "Look here pal! I don't know what your game is, but you see this duffle bag, I WANT ALL THE MONEY IN IT NOW!"

"Yeah sure whatever, here," Ash said. He turned the cash register around and pushed the button to open it up. "Look I'm too lazy to put the money in the bag for you, you can do it yourself right?," Ash looked over to Brock. "Hey buddy I'm going on break cover for me alright,".

"Hey you can count on me!" Brock gladly said. He looked over at the man. He walked around the counter and picked up the duffle back and placed it on the counter. "Look if you're going to be placing large amounts of money into a bag, you don't want to work too hard bending over. Trust me I've learned how to do this while smuggling drugs over the border I'm well experienced in this,".

"Uh... ok," the man said. He was clearly confused.

Meanwhile Ash was out in the parking lot. He walked over to the man's car and opened up the hood. He took a look at the car battery and removed every cord connecting it to the engine. He then closed the hood and pulled out his phone.

"This is 911 please state your emergency," the receptionist said.

"Oh hey, yeah look Pik Wik connivence store is being robbed and the assailant is holding us at gun point, needless to say we can't get out of the building. He doesn't have a car, but he came on a dark blue bicycle if that helps," Ash said.

Ash walked right back into the store, only to find the man leaving with a duffle bag filled to the brim with money. A few minutes later Ash and Brock could hear sirens in the distance. The man came rushing through the door.

"Hey pals my car won't fucking start! Do any of you have a car I can use?" The man quickly said.

"Oh sorry Brock and I don't have cars, but you can use my dark blue bicycle. It's around the back, and don't worry it doesn't have a bike lock or anything like that," Ash said.

The man ran around the back of the building. He found Ash's bike and quickly started going down the road, only to be met with a wall of policemen, needless to say he was quickly apprehended.

Ash headed back to his house, yup that was just another normal day at work. Get there, work for a bit, put up with annoying customers. Get robbed, fool the robbers, and go home, yup just another normal day at work. He opened his front door and instantly got tackled by his pikachu.

"Hey buddy don't worry I know you're hungry. You can just go grab some chips from the table. I don't really care, I'll get your coffee ready," Ash said.

Once Ash finished making his coffee, he poured it down the drain. And he poured the other mug right into pikachu's water bowl. He was just about to go and finish making his dinner of microwavable foods until he heard someone ring his doorbell. This intrigued him, no one has ever rung his doorbell, well not since his mother left him.

Ash walked over to the door and opened it up. There on his front porch he found a yellow envelope. It had a red ribbon messily tied around it, so much so that the envelope had a thick crease.

Ash crouched down and picked up the envelope, he brought it over to his counter top. He took out a pair of scissors. He cut open the envelope and shook out what ever was in it. A red playing card fell out, specifically the Ace of Diamonds. On the card there were three different times and addresses on it.

 _41 Riley Street 10:00pm - 5:00am_

 _4231 Cold Street 4:30pm - 6:00pm_

 _24 Grifta Street 8:00am - 3:00pm_

"Pfftt! Ha this has to be some kind of practical joke, I mean this writing is barely legible. I can hardly read it! And I why only times and streets. Shouldn't there be a date or something?" Ash laughed.

Only one of those times and addresses Ash recognized. 24 Grifta Street was his old high school's address, and the time was how long the school days were. Although the card did peak his curiosity, he left the card on his counter top, and simply went to bed.

The next following days were boring to say the least, but Ash did begin to notice a few things. It was all of a sudden not gradually, but Ash did notice there was someone following him all the way home. This had happened for a few days in a row, the past few days Ash definitely confirmed it. Ash was now normally taking different convoluted routes to his home, but no matter which way he went, the person following Ash would not let up.

It was a Saturday night, and Ash was getting sick and tired of being followed. Just before he was about to go into his house, he turned around to confront the person following him. This was the first time Ash got to get a good look of them. They were wearing a large hat, and a long trench coat hiding any form of obvious gender. Even when they spoke their voice never leaned towards being masculine or feminine.

"Hey look would you quit following me! You're not exactly inconspicuous when you follow me around every corner! Look if you're looking for some free sex you can count me out, I'm not into that shit," Ash said.

"I'm not here for anything, I'm just wondering if you've considered playing cards. Have you Ash? I've heard you're our Ace of Diamonds, have you done you're job yet? You best visit the locations at the right times or else there will be consequences,".

"Ha this has to be a prank, a joke right!? Why the hell would I go to a place I don't even know. Plus these places are simply written on a playing card you can count me out!" Ash yelled.

Ash quickly stormed into his home, he quickly got ready for bed and decided to tuck in for the night. Thoughts ran through his mind, such as.

"Who the fuck does that person think they are! This has to be some elaborate joke from Brock, it just has too be," Ash thought, but without thinking he pulled out his phone and called Brock. The phone rang for a bit, but Brock eventually picked up.

"Hello? Ash is that you?" Brock asked.

"Yeah it's me! You know I can deal with your pranks, but this one is just creepy," Ash said.

"Wait what prank? I haven't done one on you since last September," Brock said.

"You fucking liar! Don't you play the innocent card on me! Look you're the person who put an Ace of Diamonds in my mailbox, and you're the one who's set someone up to follow me home all the time! You know what you can stop this joke now, I fucking hate it!" Ash yelled.

"Ash, are you drunk?" Brock asked.

"What no! You better stop this prank or else!" Ash yelled.

"Look I honestly have no idea what you're talking about, plus I don't even own a deck of playing cards, also my pranks are just simple tricks like a whoopee cushion, anyway goodnight you crazy piece of shit," Brock said.

"That fucker hung up! But he's right Brock doesn't have the mental capacity to make something elaborate." Ash yelled.

Ash looked at his alarm clock and saw that it was 11:00pm. This time curiosity took over, and Ash decided that he would head to 41 Riley Street. He put on his sweater, his jeans. He grabbed his car keys and headed out the door. That's right Ash actually has a car, he just doesn't drive it to work.

He looked up where Riley Street was, and it just so happened to be a few blocks down the road. He headed to the street and slowly pulled up to the house that had a 41 on it. 41 Riley Street was simply a 2 floor house. Ash could see through the kitchen window out of his car window.

"This is a joke, why am I even here? It's not like anything significant will happen," Ash thought. That's when he saw a hand quickly slap against the kitchen window. A girl was shoved into view, and a big ugly man was behind her.

The girl herself had big curly pigtails, she had peach coloured hair and cherry coloured eyes. But Ash didn't expect to see her completely naked, behind her the big ugly man was also naked. The girl's eyes were burning with tears as Ash watch through the safety of his own car, a teenage girl getting raped. The funny thing is he also recognized that girl as one of his regular bitchy customers that came into his store all the time.

Ash quickly covered his mouth as he watched in terror as this girl he only knew by experience was brought down to her knees by one man. He wanted to rush in there and save her, but he didn't know how, his body wouldn't move and there was a massive lump in his throat.

"This can't be happening... this can't be happening... I refuse to believe that this is happening," Ash thought. He watched as the hours passed by until it reached 5:00am, by that point the girl was covered in bodily fluids and completely in tears. She made eye contact with Ash somehow, her lips were moving, but Ash couldn't hear her words. But her lips read "Help me,".

Ash headed back home and quickly walked up to his counter top. He looked at the card and all of its different locations. He quickly jotted them down into his phone, and began to think what his next step was.

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 **Author Notes:** Well what did you think? I'd love to know. Depending on how this first chapter does I might upload the second it's already finished I just want to see how well this first chapter goes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author Notes:** Sorry this took so long, I haven't been on fanfiction in a very long time. Anyway please enjoy this shitty chapter.

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There Ash stood in front of 41 Riley Street. He was there at 7:30am and right on the dot, the girl with curly pigtails stormed right out of the door. Now Ash had been watching her for the past couple of days, trying to figure out her schedule, but she's a high school student making her unpredictable. Even though her schedule was unpredictable there were a few things that were consistent. The only consistent thing that would happen in her life happened from

10:00pm - 5:00am, which of course was the exact time of her daily raping.

Ash now saw himself constantly stocking this one girl, but it was for her own good, he'd be the one to get her out of that situation. Ash had even stocked her during school, she was a third year high school student. Around the school she was seen as nothing, but a bully. She had a lot of friends at school, but at home, that was a completely different story.

Ash looked at the clock in the connivence store, it was nearing 11:20am, and at 11:21am on the dot. The girl with curly pigtails walked in. She picked up her usual pack of cigarettes. She slapped them down on the counter top.

"Hey buddy pay attention! Look I'd like to buy these!" She yelled.

"Sure thing, I'd like to see some ID though," Ash said.

"What ID?! Look I've bought cigarettes here before, and from you! You've never asked for ID!" She yelled.

"Just let me see you ID. I'll still let you buy the cigarettes, you little shit," Ash said.

"Fine then asshole. Here it's my drivers license," she said.

Ash picked up the girl's drivers license he head out the name, and quickly remembered it. He gave the drivers license back to Ursula. He gave back the pack of cigarettes to her and smiled.

"What the hell are you smiling for? You a pervert or something!?" Ursula yelled.

"Nah, I'm just happy to be making progress," Ash said.

Ash finished up his shift early, he had Brock cover for him. Ash headed towards his own house to prepare a few items. He walked into his own home, he walked into his kitchen. Underneath his sink he pulled out a can of pepper spray. He then hopped right into his car, and drove over to 41 Riley Street, he arrived much earlier than usual.

It was now 9:00pm there right on schedule that ugly bastard of a father showed up. He watch as each minute slowly passed by, but this time was different. At around 9:37pm another woman walked into the house. She looked much similar to Ursula presumably her mother. She had wonderful legs, a wonderful figure and just maybe, just maybe it was the way she walked that turned Ash on just a little.

Now it was 10:00pm, and Ash walked out of his car with his pepper spray in hand. This time would be different, this time he'd save Ursula from that ugly bastard. He walked right onto the lawn, and opened the front door.

He walked into the house uninvited. Until Ursula stood in his way. There she was standing in the kitchen holding a freshly cut potato.

"What are you doing here?" She calmly said. "Are you here with my father? Are you his special guest for tonight? I'm not that good yet, but mother might be able to please you... if you do choose me, please be gentle," Ursula said.

"No I'm not here with your father. I'm here to save you," Ash said.

Ursula let out a soft smile, she walked up to Ash. She could only see his eyes if she looked up. But she quickly took the pepper spray out of Ash's hand and replaced it with a kitchen knife. "Please help us... please help my sisters, my mom, please help me. You'll find my dad at the end of the hall. It's the room to the left by the way," Ursula said.

Ash nodded, but as he turned towards the hall, his legs froze. There was lump in his throat, his legs were cramping up. Sweat was beating down his neck, he could hear the screams of terror behind that door at the end of the hall. Even though Ash could hear every single thing happening behind that door, he couldn't walk any closer, he dropped the knife on the ground. The sound of the knife slamming against the floor echoed in his mind, it burned and engraved itself into his crumbling mind.

Ursula wiped away her tears, "hey thanks for trying. It's no big deal, we haven't received help in 10 years, so this is a breath of fresh air,". She carefully escorted Ash out the door.

Ash looked back to see Ursula waving him goodbye, there was a smile of satisfaction on her face, but Ash's face only showed a burning expression of guilt. He drove back home with a heavy heart, he lay face flat on his bed.

"AHHHH! WHY THE HELL AM I SUCH A DAMN COWARD!" Ash yelled.

Pikachu was awoken by Ash's screams, he tried to comfort his master, but Ash just told pikachu to go to bed. Ash walked over to his counter top and pulled up the Ace of Diamonds. He read off the locations and decided that he just might visit the other places to get his mind off of the embarrassment of this night.

The next morning Ash called in sick for work, cause today he was going to school. His old high school to be exact. He was going to the 3rd location written on the Ace of Diamonds, 24 Grifta Street. He arrived at 7:30 in the morning, he thought that being early to an event written on the card might be a good idea.

He pulled into the school's parking lot and just simply watched from afar. But what was Ash to do, he was at a school where there were hundreds of kids. If the card told him where he had to be to help someone, it was doing a crummy job sending him to a school. The only exciting things that happened that day were a few kids skipping class to do other "things,".

Ash looked at his watch it was 2:55 when most of the kids had left. Just as he was about to give up, something peaked his interest. A black girl came walking from around the corner. She was in tears, she was holding her backpack in front of her. She sat down right in front of Ash's car and began to cry into her backpack.

"Is this her? Is this the person I'm helping? Well it's worth a shot," Ash whispered to himself. He opened up his car door allowing the icy cold wind to chill him to the bone. He walked in front of the girl, she was clearly much younger than he was. She looked to be about 14 years old.

"Heya kid what you doing in front of my car?" Ash said.

"Oh hic- um... sorry sir. I'll get out of your way," the girl said. She got up and ran which caught Ash off guard.

Ash decided to chase after her, cause he was curious, but also because this was the only exciting thing he's done all day. He began to chase after the girl, she wore a dress that seemed to be homemade, and had thick dark purple hair running down her back. Ash finally caught up to her and grabbed her by the wrist.

"NO NO NO PLEASE LET GO! I-I-I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" The girl yelled.

"Hold on I'm not here to cause any trouble, I just want to talk. Look my name is Ash Ketchum, I'm what you'd call a complete failure in life,".

"Uh... um... alright, I'm Iris. The girl that everyone despises,".

"Really huh? Well you want to go out for ice cream?" Ash asked.

"You're not going to rape me or anything right?" Iris asked.

"What no! Alright I get it, you want a ride home? Or do you have someone picking you up?" Ask asked.

"No I walk home it takes about 2 hours," Iris said.

"Well I'll give you a ride, come on. I won't bite," Ash said.

"Ok," Iris quietly said.

Iris cautiously stepped into Ash's car. She plugged her nose from the simple stench that radiated from the car. The car smelt of rotting food and beer. But Iris was still slightly happy, since well, getting a ride was much better than walking.

Iris simply told Ash where to take his turns. There wasn't much of a conversation other than what Iris' interests were. During the car ride Ash found out that Iris loved climbing, she loved the outdoors and most of all she loved her family above all else.

Once they arrived Iris opened the car door, but just as she was about to walk out of the car. Ash spoke up, "Hey Iris, I'll pick you up tomorrow morning to bring you to school,".

"Oh sure, um show up at 7:45am ok," Iris said.

"Sure thing!" Ash said.

While driving home, Ash began to think to himself. "Damn, this one is really easy. All I have to do is pick up one high school girl, bring her to school and take her home,".

Ash did this for the next couple of weeks. He occasionally had Brock pick her up, at first Brock thought Ash was turning into a pedophile, but he soon found out about Iris' problems. As more days passed by Brock was primarily picking up Iris, but not because he was asked, but because he wanted to. This grew to a point where Ash no longer needed to pick up Iris and drop her off.

A week of this had passed by. Feeling satisfied Ash walked back home after picking Iris up for the first time in forever. The high of helping Iris wore off by this point, but he still had two more places to visit. 41 Riley Street, Ash still saw this as more of something to do last. On the other hand 4231 Cold Street, he had not visited yet. He walked into his house and saw the Ace of Diamonds on his counter top. But this time 24 Grifta Street was completely gone along with its posted time.

"Huh, what the hell. Why is 24 Grifta Street gone?" Ash examined the card, and he knew it was the exact same card due to the coffee stain on the back of it. On the back of the card there was a small sentence written in messy hand writing.

 _Well done, looks like you aren't a failure after all, Ace of Diamonds. Remember you still have 2 more places. Don't give up you're doing just fine._

Ash dropped the card in absolute fear and horror. That damn card sat there right on his counter top. He could feel pikachu slowly poking at his leg, but that didn't mean a damn thing. He was scared, he feared that card with a deepening void ripping its way in his heart.

That night Ash didn't get a ton of sleep, he tossed and turned in his bed simply thinking about the sentence written on the back of the card. He saw it as both something to be grateful for, but also something to be feared.

The very next day Ash woke up quite late. It was nearing mid afternoon and he still had one more place to visit 4231 Cold Street. He knew he had to prepare for anything, so he went to his kitchen and threw a knife into his backpack. He packed a few extra sandwiches and headed out. Cold Street was quite a ways away, but Ash could get there in 30mins if he drove.

When it reached 4:00 in the afternoon, Ash hopped into his car, got his backpack ready and decided that it was time to head out. Along the way he could only imagine what was about to happen. Would it be as easy as 24 Grifta Street? Or would it be as extreme as 41 Riley Street. There was only one way to find out.

Ash had arrived at his destination. He found himself at a public outdoor swimming pool. He walked in and saw a single girl there swimming. This girl looked to be around the age of Iris, she had the most beautiful orange hair Ash had ever seen. Her skinny build and glowing skin sent shivers up his spine. Already Ash had fantasied what he wanted to do with her, which admittedly was extremely creepy.

The girl was in a small bathing suit, and she got up on the little platform that competitive swimmers use. Ash was too stupid to know what they're called and the author was just too lazy to look up what they're called.

The girl jumped into the pool without any goggles or a swim cap. The incredible speed she raced at took Ash's breath away, it was just the way her body moved in the water. It was graceful, it was awe-inspiring, it was breathtaking. She did a couple of laps at speeds Ash didn't even know was possible in the water.

Once the girl had finished she packed her things and headed to the bus stop. Ash decided to follow her. He managed to catch up with her to have a small conversation.

"Hey there," Ash said.

"Oh um hello," the girl said.

"You waiting for the bus?" Ash asked.

"No, I'm just waiting for my Dad," the girl said.

"You're an incredible swimmer. You took my breath away," Ash said.

At this point the girl back away slightly from Ash. "Were you watching me swim?! You pervert! You disgusting man!"

"Wait hold on! I'm just here for a friendly conversation! I don't mean any harm! Look my name is Ash Ketchum, and I am a complete loser!" Ash yelled.

"Alright Ash! That makes you an even bigger pervert! Look my dad is a police officer and he won't be happy that an older guy was hitting on me!" The girl yelled.

"I wasn't hitting on you though! I just complimented that you were good at swimming!" Ash yelled.

"GET AWAY FROM ME! THIS IS SEXUAL HARASSMENT!" The girl yelled.

"What!? No it's not! Alright fine I get it you want me to leave you alone! Fine I'll leave you alone," Ash said. He was very confused at what he did to upset this one teenage girl. But what can you do when you're trying to talk with an easily offended person.

Ash began to walk away feeling as if his time there was a complete waste. When he got into his car there the girl was standing just outside his window. She knocked on his window, and Ash rolled it down.

"Look my name is Misty... and you can watch me whenever you want, but just don't be creepy about it alright," Misty said.

"Uhmm... alright..." Ash mumbled.

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 **Author Notes:** Well hope you guys enjoyed! I always love reviews so make sweet love with that bitch named "Post Review" she basically is willing to take in tons of loads from people, doesn't matter what gender. Anyway hope you guys or girls enjoyed! :P


	3. Chapter 3

These past few days Ash had been watching a teenage girl swim. Each time her slender body pushed through the water Ash could feel his own heart quicken. Misty like usual just let him watch, by this point she was used to it.

Misty stepped out of the pool and gave Ash a glare. "So what's your deal? You just show up to watch me swim? You don't take pictures, you don't bring anyone with you, you aren't being extremely creepy, what you playing at?".

"Even I don't know the answer to that question. All I know is I'm supposed to be here," Ash said.

"Huh... confusing as always. You know I've told my family about you, they all hate you," Misty said.

"Oh really? What'd you say?" Ash asked.

"Oh just that you're a fucking creep!" Misty yelled as she stuck out her tongue at Ash. "But if you like watching me this much you should come and watch my race. It's this saturday, come if you want to, but just don't be surprised if I lose,".

"Why would you lose? You're the best swimmer I've ever seen," Ash said.

"Thanks," Misty said.

"Oh is that a thanks I hear?" Ash said.

"Yeah it is, now don't get cocky! I'm going home! You pervert," Misty said.

The next few days were normal for Ash. He picked up Iris a few times, but this time he completely ignored 41 Riley Street. He worked his usual shifts and even covered for Brock a few times. Ash really didn't have anything he wanted to do except for watching Misty's race.

A whole week had passed by and the race was finally here. Ash was quite excited, he had seen Misty swim a ton of times. She was fast, faster than anyone he had seen, even on T.V. Once the time for the race reached, Ash hopped into his car and raced off to Misty's race. Brock and Iris were also coming along for the ride.

Brock for one wanted to see this incredible little girl Ash had met, and Iris just didn't want to be alone. Once the 3 of them arrived the walked over to the spectator area. There weren't too many people there, it was just the parents of the kids participating. Ash saw Misty in the distance standing next to man who looked very similar to her, presumably her father. There were a couple of young ladies standing next to Misty, and none of them looked like anything to her or her father. But all of them seemed pretty friendly with each other.

"Hey Ash, is that her?" Brock said.

"Yeah the one with the orange hair," Ash said.

"Wait Ash you've been watching Misty swim?! Are you insane I know her from school, she's known to have connections that can get you killed!" Iris yelled.

"Oh she already told me her dad was a cop. I ain't afraid of nothin," Ash said.

Ash sat there on a bleacher, he watched as Misty got yelled at from her father. Ash couldn't understand a word due to all the noise of everyone warming up, also every sound echoed in the indoor pool area which didn't help at all.

Misty's father held Misty tight as she struggled to get out of his grip. Her father forcibly shoved her swim cap on. Her father then did the exact same thing with Misty's goggles. Misty was then pushed along to her station where she would dive into the water.

Misty and the other swimmers got ready for the referee to blow the whistle to start the race. This race was to be free swimming, but to idiots like Ash and the author of this fic it's front crawl. Ash understood that everyone had to go 3 times forward and back.

Ash's heart was beating so fast from the pure anticipation. As soon as the whistle was blown every swimmer dove into the water, but Ash only kept his eyes on Misty. Her body hit the water creating a large splash, but something quickly happened. Her technique was sloppy, and weak at best, she was quickly falling behind all of the swimmers.

This wasn't the Misty Ash had known. It was almost as if she was afraid of the water. It was almost as if she was fighting the water instead of being one with it. Ash watched in agony as Misty struggled in the water. Once the race had finished, Misty had come in last place by a whole 30 mins. But as soon as she was finished she quickly took off her swim cap and goggles as if her life depended on it.

Ash quickly exited the spectating area and waited in the lobby. He was standing there for a few minutes until Misty came out wearing some short shorts and a yellow top. She had a towel around her neck. Ash saw Misty's father come up to her and give her a good yelling.

Ash could hear the burning words of disappointment coming out of that man's mouth. Misty yelled back was instantly scolded, her father stormed off with her sisters leaving Misty in the lobby.

After a few minutes passed by Ash walked up to Misty. "Heya, so about the race. You just seemed uncomfortable, you just didn't look like yourself," Ash said.

"Yeah well that's because I normally swim without a swim cap or any goggles on. I fucking hate my dad! He believes the highest of quality gear will make me a better swimmer, but I feel more comfortable in the water when I don't have any gear on except my swim suit," Misty said.

"Oh really? Ok when's your next race?" Ash asked.

"It's tomorrow, I'll be in the loser's bracket," Misty said.

"Alright then you can expect to see me tonight," Ash said.

"Huh why? I'm not going to practice tonight so what's the point?" Misty asked.

"I found your address. A girl from your school named Iris gave it to me, you live just 3 blocks down from here," Ash said.

"Really!? Why'd she do that! Hey look no spying on me through my bedroom window ok!" Misty yelled.

"I promise," Ash said.

Ash raced back to his house. He quickly ran upstairs to his room, he petted pikachu on the top of his head. He reached into his closet and pulled out an old shoebox. The shoebox was very beat up, with dented corners and a few holes in it. Ash quickly took out some wrapping paper and made the box look somewhat decent.

"I hope this works," Ash whispered to himself.

Ash hopped back into his car, but this time pikachu was joining him for the ride. Ash raced down to Misty's house ignoring all safety warnings, right now he didn't care if he would get arrested. He drove up to the address Iris had given to him. Pikachu was sitting on his shoulder and Ash held the shoebox in his hand.

Ash pushed the doorbell, he waited for a bit. The door swung right open there he saw Misty's father standing there. His presence alone was intimidating to say the least.

"Black hair, brown eyes, about as tall as me. Ah you must be the boyfriend Misty has been telling all of us about! You're Ash right?" Mr. Waterflower said.

"Uh yeah?" Ash said. "Boyfriend? What the hell?" Ash thought.

"Come on in young man! My daughter told me you were coming tonight, you look so much more mature than I thought you would, and that pikachu of yours is adorable!" Mr. Waterflower said.

Ash walked right into Misty's house. In there he saw many different medals sitting everywhere. There were many trophies, and a lot of family photos. To his left Ash saw a trophy stand, there were 4 different names, and one of them happened to be Misty. Over Misty's name was an empty shelf that was collecting dust.

"Young man, we were just about to start dinner we'd love it if you joined us," Mr. Waterflower said. He brought Ash over to the dinning table, the sight of pizza brought a bright smile to his face. There was an open seat next to Misty and there was also a clear blush running across her cheeks.

Pikachu hopped off of Ash's shoulders and waited outside, normally he liked hanging around people, but just this once he wanted some fresh air. Ash sat down beside Misty, he could hear loud footsteps above him. The footsteps quickly made their way to the stairs. 3 girls came tumbling down kicking up a large amount of dust.

"Ah there they are! Ash, that's Daisy, Violet and Lilly my other 3 daughters," Mr Waterflower said.

Ash stood up to greet Misty's sisters. Misty watched in horror as Ash approached her sisters, there was a large amount of anxiety building up in her stomach. Ash stuck out his hand to Misty's sisters.

"Hey, I'm Ash Ketchum!"

"Ah ya don't hav ta be sa formal!" Lilly said.

"Like yeah! Like um, you don't got to be so formal! You're Misty's boyfriend," Violet laughed.

"Please guys! Geez sorry they're both interesting, but you are quite handsome. If you weren't 16 I'd probably make you mine," Daisy said.

"Heh, nice to meet all of you," Ash said. "16 years old?! Misty's boyfriend?! What did that red head tell her family about me?!"

Ash sat down and so did the rest of Misty's family. Ash sat there happily as he chowed down on some pizza not being reserved at all. Ash was quite surprised to see how loose of a father Mr. Waterflower was. He tried to have an eating contest with him, of course Ash won.

"So young man! How did you and my daughter meet? Misty told me that you guys met at school!" Mr. Waterflower said.

"What?! That's not how we met! Now let me tell you how we met! I paid her $300 to give me her virginity!" Ash yelled.

Misty instantly sprung up. "Ash! That's not how we met!" Misty looked over at her father who's eyes were wide open. He dropped his glass of iced tea. He stood up looking down and gave both Misty and Ash a glare. Misty was bitting the inside of her lip, while Ash was smirking.

"Pfffttt HA! My daughter would never do that! I raised her too well! Ash you are quite the comedian! You are more than welcome to come over anytime you wish!" Mr. Waterflower laughed.

"That's sarcasm isn't it?" Ash said.

"Yeah it is! Ha ha ha ha! Ash I like you a lot! I totally give you my blessing! And the best part is I didn't even notice that you spiked my drink!" Mr. Waterflower laughed.

"Pretty good huh?" Ash said.

Mr. Waterflower passed out along with the rest of Misty's sisters. Ash turned towards Misty and yanked her out of her chair.

"Hey let go of me!" Misty yelled.

Ash sat Misty right down on her living room couch. There Ash pinned her down forcibly. "Ash let go of me! Please I don't want this! Please don't rape me! Please I have so much I want to do!".

"Calm down! I'm not going to rape you I'm here to give you a present. I just can't have your father see it. Look I knew that you were going to tell your family that I was coming over, you're so easy to read. So I had to prepare for the worst, anyway here's your present," Ash said.

He handed Misty his wrapped up box. She held it in her hands she looked down at it. She shook the box, but the box didn't make a single sound.

"Hey what's in the box?" Misty asked.

"Aren't you going to open it first?" Ash said.

"Fine," Misty said.

Misty began to open up the box. She looked inside to see the box completely empty. There wasn't a single thing in that box. She looked up at Ash. "Uh Ash, did you forget to pack my present?".

"Nope I heard you needed a new pair of swim caps and goggles so I went out and got you some," Ash said.

Misty finally understood what Ash meant, and tears found their ways down her cheek. She held onto the box for dear life. "Ash this is the best present I've ever gotten. Thank you,".

"You're beautiful, and please have more confidence in yourself. Step up to your old man and tell him dead in the eye that you'll swim how you want! No matter what!" Ash said.

"Are you going to come to my race tomorrow?" Misty asked.

"Nope! I already know the result, oh also do you want me to help out bring your family to their rooms. They won't be up until tomorrow morning right in time to head to your race, also they won't remember this night at all," Ash said.

"Yeah, I'd like some help," Misty said.

Ash felt good driving back to his house. Pikachu was in the passenger seat, he was sleeping curled up into a small little ball. Ash walked into his kitchen and looked at the Ace of Diamonds, lifted up the card to see 4231 Cold Street was now taken off, this time Ash was expecting it. He flipped the card to see a message in messy hand writing.

 _Good job Ace of Diamonds. You're almost done, but please stop dancing around the problem, someone is about to end their own life. Anyway you should be receiving a "package" in your mail. Please you only got one shot so make good use of it!_

 _\- Sincerely the Dealer._

Suddenly Ash's doorbell rung, he walked over to his door and slowly opened it. This night seemed to be chillier than usual, there was no one outside and the street lamps were also turned off. On the door mat of Ash's house there was an object he recognized, but he could not actually believe what the object was.

He picked it up the cool metal of the object felt like melting chocolate in his hands. The trigger felt tight and stiff. "Wow... there's a god damn gun in my hand," Ash thought. He opened up the gun to find a single bullet in it. The bullet had some engraving on it.

Engraved on the bullet was

 _41 Riley Street 5:00-10:00pm_

in neatly done cursive, a gift from heaven compared to the awful hand writing on the Ace of Diamonds. Ash walked out of his kitchen and back into his car. He put the gun on the passenger seat.

Driving down to 41 Riley Street was like a dream, as if it wasn't real. Once he arrived everything around him didn't matter one bit. He walked into Ursula's house calm with a stone cold face. In front of him he saw Ursula like usual getting raped by her old man.

Ash could hear the yelling directed towards him, but Ash had decided that this can't be happening, that all of this was a wild dream, a wild nightmare. He raised the gun and took careful aim at that ugly bastard, he took his thumb off of the safety trigger.

*Bang*

Ash woke up jarringly to find himself in his bedroom. He walked down to his kitchen, this time he straight up ignored the Ace of Diamonds sitting on his counter top. He drove to work where he did his usual thing, Ursula didn't show up.

He ended up driving by 41 Riley Street to see police investigating the area. But he quickly drove by ignoring everything. He visited Misty after 41 Riley Street and ate dinner there. But he knew he had to check the card. Last night was a blur to him, he didn't remember a whole lot, but he did remember pulling the trigger.

Ash decided that it was time to head back home he walked back into his kitchen. He picked up the Ace of Diamonds to notice everything was gone, every single area and time was completely gone. He flipped the card over to see a small message.

 _Good job._

(-0-)

 **Author Notes:** Well what did you guys think of that chapter! I know this chapter may have seemed a little rushed, but it was written that way for a purpose. This fic isn't done yet, but I'll give you guys a little sneak peak of what's going to happen next.

(-0-)

Ash was sweating bullets, maybe this was the anxiety, maybe it was the anticipation. Anyway Ash waited for a bit until the mahogany door opened up. Standing there was his ex-girlfriend, she was just as beautiful the day he met her.

"Ash is that you?"

"It sure is Serena," Ash said.


	4. Chapter 4

Ash woke up in his room, it was dark, he pulled out his phone to see that it was 8:00am. It would normally be bright in his room, but this morning it was just as dark as midnight. He looked around his room to see someone standing in his room, right in front of the window.

"Hello Ace of Diamonds, I'm the Dealer. I'm here to offer you another job,".

Ash quickly sat up and pushed himself back on his bed. His back up against the wall behind him. He took a good long glance at the person standing in front of his window. "How the hell did you get in my house?!".

"Oh Diamond, you left your front door open silly! Anyway I'm here to give you your paycheck, also I have another job for you, that's if you're interested," the Dealer said.

"My paycheck?" Ash said.

"Yes here are 3 personal letters from, Iris, Misty and Ursula. It's just them thanking you, what did you expect money?" the Dealer said.

"Nah, not really. Anyway if you have another card for me I'll gladly take it. It's not like my life has been any more exciting these last few weeks. It was exactly the same from before I got the Ace of Diamonds," Ash said.

"Good! Glad to hear it!" The Dealer said. The Dealer handed Ash a face down card. "Don't bother looking at it until I leave the place nothing will show up until I leave the area,".

"Uh alright," Ash said.

"Oh just a tip, be sure to pack your bags. This one will be far away," the Dealer said.

The Dealer stepped out of Ash's front door. Ash watched him walk out and completely disappear into thin air, but after seeing letters on playing cards appear right in front of him, nothing phased him anymore.

Ash walked into his kitchen and placed the card right beside the Ace of Diamonds. He flipped over the card to see that this time it was a joker. At the very top of the joker was a small message that was in barely legible handwriting. Well actually it was impossible to read, but underneath the message like before there was a place and a time. Unlike 3 times and 3 locations, this time it was just 1 time and 1 location.

 _725 Motto Avenue 1:00am - 12:00am_

"What the hell, I actually have no clue what that place is," Ash thought. He pulled out his phone to check where 725 Motto Avenue was. It took awhile for the map to load due to Ash's terrible Wi-Fi speed, but he eventually got it to work.

Look at his map he saw that it'd be about a 5 hour drive from his house. He'd have to drive through multiple cities. He looked at the time of 1:00am - 12:am as well, and knew that this one was going to be tough. Considering this was just one place this one might be even tougher than Ursula's situation.

He pulled up his phone and dialed Brock's number.

"Hello?" Brock answered.

"Hey Brock, so I'm going to be taking a vacation you cool with that?" Ash asked.

"Well since I'm the manager now, sure go for it, where you going?" Brock asked.

"725 Motto Avenue," Ash said.

"But that's just a regular residential area that's really far from here. You know you could always take a nice trip at a hotel that's in town," Brock said.

"Hey, I'm just visiting family for about a week," Ash lied.

"Yeah sure thing. You can take a break as long as you need to," Brock said.

With that Ash had his job covered. He began to pack his bag, he was just bringing a simple backpack with extra clothes, toiletries, a knife and some high grade pepper spray. He was getting Iris to take care of pikachu which she was thrilled with. Pikachu wasn't too happy about any of it, but once Ash explained the situation, his partner understood.

Ash ate a large breakfast hopped into his car, he filled it up with gas, and decided that it was time to head out. He had the joker in his pocket, but first he wanted to visit his previous victories before he truly headed out of town.

He stopped by the school to talk with Ursula and Misty, both of them acted like they didn't know him around their friends, but they eventual had a casual conversation with him. Iris couldn't stop walking around him raising some suspicions around the school, but that wasn't Ash's problem.

Once he felt satisfied from talking with Ursula, Misty and Iris he hopped into his car and decided it was now time to head out. Driving down that highway was one of the worst things Ash had ever had to do. Multiple pee breaks, and buying all that gas was a pain in the ass.

The scenery of trees got boring fast, and with all the slow drivers Ash was about ready to commit suicide. During traffic in the multiple cities he had to pass through, Ash was seriously contemplating suicide he did have a knife in his backpack after all.

Through all the pain he finally made it into the city he needed to be in. This "city," wasn't much of a city it was more of a small town. It had a small market area, many areas for housing and a few recreational centers. But Ash wasn't here for sight seeing he was here to help someone. He picked up a map in a connivence store since his phone ran out of battery. Ash did get lost in the town, but he did end up finding the house.

The house was a 2 story home presumably with a basement. It was white in colour and it had a baby blue roof. There were two rooms on the upper floor, Ash could tell by the windows. Through the windows in the front he could see a recreational room and that was about it. He stepped out of his car and walked up to the front door.

The front door was made out of high quality mahogany wood. Ash was sweating bullets maybe it was from the anxiety coursing through his veins or maybe it was the anticipation. He gave the door a good knock, and waited for a bit. He could hear the door getting unlocked from the inside, slowly the door opened, and to Ash's surprise he saw his ex-girlfriend standing there.

"Ash? Is that you?"

"It sure is Serena," Ash said.

"Uh... how'd you find me? Ah anyway we can discuss that inside. Come on I'll make you some tea," Serena said.

Ash walked into Serena's home. It was very quiet, there were the sounds of creaking all over the house, but it wasn't noticeable. Ash sat down in the kitchen where Serena placed two tea cups in front of him. One for herself and one for Ash.

"So Ash, um... how'd you find me?" Serena asked.

"Uh well... I was given a job to go to this house, and it turns out that you're here, what a funny coincidence. Oh also do you have a room I can stay in? My house is a 5 hour drive from here, if there's no traffic," Ash said.

"5 HOURS! Ash! You idiot! Yeah I'll get a room ready, but if you're going to visit please call me first!" Serena yelled.

"Hey look I didn't even know you lived here until now," Ash said.

Ash heard soft foot steps walk down the stairs and into the kitchen. Ash drew his attention towards the kid he who looked to be about 13 years old. He had bright blue eyes much like Serena, but his hair was jet black and was growing in a very similar way to Ash.

"Mom who's this?"

"Joash, this is a friend of mine," Serena said.

Ash went wide eyed at the kid who was pulling orange juice out of the fridge. He was about to speak up when Serena gave him a terrifying glare. The scowling stare Serena gave Ash, was telling him to shut the hell up. Ash backed down, he watched as Joash walked back upstairs.

"That's Joash! Serena why didn't you tell me he was now 13?!" Ash yelled.

"Hey look you never visited! He doesn't even know who his father is!" Serena yelled.

"Look I thought you got an abortion after you were pregnant! I didn't know Joash was alive, but apparently you weren't joking when you said you were going to give birth to him," Ash said.

"You raped me!" Serena yelled.

"I was drunk and high!" Ash yelled.

"I had to raise a baby at the age of 13!" Serena yelled.

"That was not my problem," Ash said.

"He's your son! Not your fucking problem, you aren't even paying for child support you lazy fuck!" Serena yelled.

"You never told me about him after we broke up!" Ash yelled.

"You ran away!" Serena yelled.

"I did not! You were the one who moved away, you didn't even tell me where you were moving!" Ash yelled.

"That's cause you never listened!" Serena yelled.

"I never listened! Every time I tried to buy you a meal for your fucking cravings! I told you I didn't have enough money at the time, but you never listened!" Ash yelled.

"I was pregnant at the time! Could you blame me! Now I'm stuck with your son, and there is no one else in the house to take care of him! I have to work 24/7 and today is the only day I get off! Now do you have any idea how much stress I'm under! Do you! No you wouldn't!" Serena yelled.

"Fine then, if you're under so much stress just sleep, and I'll order a pizza for dinner," Ash said.

"Humph that is so much like you," Serena said.

Ash pulled out his phone and quickly ordered 2 pizzas. But before he placed his final order he decided to ask what Serena wanted. "So Serena, what do you want on your pizza? You still a vegetarian?".

"No, just get me a pizza with extra bacon, cheese, sausage, and pepperoni," Serena said.

"Uh alright," Ash said.

After a few minutes their pizzas arrived. Ash paid in cash and brought them into the kitchen, where Serena brought out a few beers and some water. Ash cut up the pizza and Serena called Joash down for dinner.

Joash walked down to see the sight of pizza, "Mom, pizza really? This isn't like you,".

"Yeah I know, but this time we were running out of time," Serena said.

Joash shrugged and grabbed a few slices and headed right back to his room. Ash saw this as odd, but not surprising. Serena seemed slightly disappointed, but not fazed at all. She let out a soft sigh and began to eat her pizza.

Joash was sitting in his room, he had his computer in his room. He pulled out a small journal in his desk. He pulled out the pen that always sat in his pocket and began to write a few things down. He began to think about who Ash was, he didn't seem like he had any intent on leaving. He overheard Ash and his mother talking about what room he'd be staying in.

Back at the dinner table, both Ash and Serena were finishing up. Ash helped throw away all of the trash, he helped wash dishes. He helped out Serena fold the laundry, which she was pleasantly elated with. Serena went down to the basement to set up a few things, and she went back up to talk with Ash for a bit.

"So Ash I've already prepared the guest room in the basement for you," Serena said.

"Oh yeah? Where is it?" Ash asked.

"It's just at the end of the hallway, it's the only bedroom down there. My room is on the upper floor right next to Joash's room. It's the one furthest down the hallway," Serena said.

"Sure thing, I'll let you know if I need help with anything," Ash said.

"Alright well it's getting late we should all start getting ready for bed. Why don't you head down and check out the room," Serena said.

Ash obliged and headed down to the basement. The basement was quite clean, but it looked as if no one goes down there. He walked into the room where there was a small childlike sized bed. Ash set down his backpack, and began to sort out his things. He took the knife and slid it underneath the mattress, for the pepper spray he placed it in his pillow case. He had to hide his weapons some how.

Ash had stayed up just talking with Brock over the phone, it was coming close to midnight, and Ash decided that it'd be a good idea to take a look at the joker. He pulled out the playing card and flipped it over, but it was exactly the same. The place and time hadn't changed at all, so Ash was completely in the dark for this one. He walked back upstairs and grabbed a cup from the cupboard. He walked over to the sink and filled up his cup with tap water. He was about to take a sip when he heard very loud creaking sounds from upstairs.

Ash walked up those creaky stairs as each tiny sound echoed through his mind. He could hear mumbled voices coming out of Serena's room. The was a dim flickering light emitting from her door, and it just so happened to be that her door was slightly open. Ash walked closer as the sounds from her room were burning into his mind. He recognized the exact same sounds from when he had to save Ursula, but he didn't want to admit it.

He walked up to the slight opening of the door, but he still couldn't see a damn thing. The voices were now clear, there were two voices, one of them Serena and the other Joash.

"Choke me harder!" Serena pleaded.

"You need to call me by my name and beg for it!" Joash yelled.

"Please Daddy, make me your bitch and choke the fuck out of me!" Serena pleaded.

(-0-)

 **Author Notes:** I said this fic was dark in the first chapter didn't I? Well anyway I'm going to get sappy for a bit. Thanks for the reviews, and Awkwardgeek suggested that I started responding to review in my Author Notes, so I guess I'm doing that now.

 **Solidworkman:** Hey thanks for rating it as an S fic. That really means a whole lot, I hope you keep reading this fic in the future.

 **Madassdragon:** Your reactions are always the best. Thanks for the review, and I hope this answers your question why Serena is Ash's ex.


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